As The Crow Flies
by Sasha the Espeon
Summary: Cold moonlight washed over the bare clearing that moon-high, its light just a sliver of the glowing stone in a raven-black sky. It was descended into madness in a heartbeat, ferns parting all around to release massive, hulking cats, slashing and snapping at each other's throats. All I could do was take off into the shadows of the forest. But I had no choice – I was born a traitor.


**As The Crow Flies**

_Cold moonlight washed over the bare clearing that moon-high, its light just a sliver of the glowing stone in a raven-black sky. It was descended into madness in a heartbeat, the outlining ferns parting all around to release massive, hulking cats, with claws and fangs that were bloody, stark against pale moonlight, slashing and snapping at throats. Left and right, bodies fell and all I could do was take off into the shadows of the forest. I was leaving my Clan, my friends, my kin, to certain death. But I had no choice – I was born a traitor._

* * *

Cold moonlight washed over the bare clearing that moon-high, its light just a sliver of the glowing stone in a raven-black sky. What the forest cats had always looked to for faith and wisdom now hung from its perch eerily, an omen in its own right. Even Silverpelt above seemed to blaze overhead with a sense of foreboding; an unsettling sight if I ever saw one. The night chill floated by listlessly, making absolutely no sound. In fact, nothing could be heard through the darkness. The trees themselves seemed to be watching, waiting, for whatever was lurking within the forest's shadows to come out and do its worst.

And then, just like that, the clearing was descended into madness, the outlining ferns parting all around to release massive, hulking cats with outstretched claws and bared teeth. They practically flew at each other, all colliding at its center with a splatter of blood to coat the ground.

All around cats were fighting now, hissing, screeching. Their claws and fangs were bloody, stark against pale moonlight as they slashed and snapped at their opponents' throats. Left and right, bodies fell and all I could do was watch from afar. My instincts told me I should be there with them, helping my Clanmates, but my paws were rooted to the ground, longing to stay in the shadows where I knew I was safe.

It wasn't long before the amount of cats on both sides began thinning out—their still, unmoving bodies matted with blood and dust. It brought the heavy stench of death into my nostrils, and I had to keep myself from retching by holding my breath. Though, among the reek of gore and demise I smelled no fear. These beasts were willing to take their last breaths in battle. To kill until every soul was somehow snuffed from existence, or be killed knowing they would go down with honor.

It didn't scare me either, not in the slightest, but my paws began to itch. I could hear my name being whispered on the wind; a faint, eerie echo that made each syllable drag out like a sigh. "Crowpaw… Crowpaw…"

I hadn't the slightest clue what might have come over me, but almost like instinct, I whirled around swiftly and took off into the shadows of the forest. Panic soon washed over me; I was leaving my Clan, my friends, my _kin_, to certain death; I was running off like a scaredy-mouse.

Trying to turn back was useless. It was like I was being controlled by some sort of unseen force. _Stop it!_ I screamed in my mind. _Turn back! They need me! _

"Don't fight it," the voice moaned. The fur along my spine shot up at the sound, a half-dozen voices bellowing in unison. "It's in your heart; there is no escape."

Those words echoed in my mind as I ran, wide raven paws kicking up the earth as I fled farther and farther away from the moonlit clearing, driving myself headfirst into the shadows. "It's in your heart… It's in your heart…"

"Crowpaw_? Crowpaw_!"

I was jolted awake suddenly as a pair of paws slammed down on my flank, knocking the air from me completely. Afterward I had to gasp to let it all back in, glaring upward to see who had awoken me so harshly. And sure enough, Flamepaw was standing directly over me, her dark ginger pelt glowing in the waning sunlight with pale green eyes brimming of enthusiasm. My whiskers twitched; when _wasn't _she like this?

Specklepaw, my other sister, sat at her side and acknowledged my presence with a respectful nod. It looked like she was about to say something, but Flamepaw spoke first, her tail lashing. "You should have seen us today!" she meowed. "We saw a rogue at the border and chased her away before she could get into camp!"

Flamepaw never was one to tell a story correctly. There was still more I wasn't told, I knew, and I was a bit more confused with what little she'd given me, so instead of querying further I gave Specklepaw a look, and the tortoiseshell she-cat was happy to oblige. "Finchflight, Silvermist and Vinetail took us out hunting this morning with Runningpaw, and when the three of us broke from them we scented a weird smell close to camp." I could hear the pride in her voice, could _see_ her chest puffing with self-importance as she went on. "There was a rogue cat sneaking around near here. She didn't see us coming right away, so we jumped her and gave her a good thrashing before sending her on her way. "

Flamepaw nodded. "For a minute we thought she was Honeytail, but when she saw us the look on her face was priceless!"

"Flamepaw managed to get a good swipe at her ear and tear it," Specklepaw mewed, her eyes blazing. "_That'll_ teach her not to trespass on our territory again."

I had always admired the determination that flared in her icy blue eyes; in fact, I was proud to have a littermate who I knew would never turn out like our father. She had the courage of a lion-cat, with claws sharp like a tiger's. She'd be the one to preserve my family's honor after I would inevitably shame them.

I then looked around to find Runningpaw, but the apprentice was nowhere in sight, and for a heartbeat I wondered if the silver tabby was boasting to the other warriors about the intrusion. I could pick up faint traces of her scent from where I was, so she couldn't have been far.

"…And then she went running right back into the forest!" Flamepaw finished dramatically with a small hop of joy. It warmed my heart to see my littermates so excited about the event—it was one of the things I'd miss when I'd have to leave them.

Specklepaw purred. "You know, Vinetail says that Sootstar might make us warriors after today. I can't wait!" she drew her paw up to wash her ears coolly, but I could see the smugness in her eyes. My ear twitched, but I decided against pointing it out.

I was about to congratulate the two when Flamepaw's gaze swept the clearing. It only took a moment for her to dash out of the apprentices' den, leaving Specklepaw and I to exchange confused glances. "We should probably go and see where she ran off to," the tortoiseshell sighed and I mewed my agreement, slipping out to see a mass of cats gathered at the center of camp. They were packed together so tightly you'd think they were forming a battle patrol, but I managed to squeeze in far enough to see a golden she-cat, her pelt adorned in nasty cuts and scars.

My chest tightened in fear when I remembered that a rogue had been chased away from the territory, and sure enough, her right ear was split in two, dry blood still coating the fur around it. It was then that I took note of the bare patches of fur on her rear, and my breath caught in my throat. I remembered her.

She was the rogue who killed my father.

Specklepaw gasped beside me, but Flamepaw was nowhere in sight. Neither she-cat had any idea that she was responsible for my father's death, but I prayed to StarClan nonetheless, hoping that she wasn't about to do something stupid; my littermates were famous for doing before thinking.

The rogue was standing before Sootstar, the massive gray tabby who lead our Clan. His two sons, Sparrowclaw and Dusktail stood on either side of him, bristling as they spat. "What do you want, Huntress?"

I noticed that Sparrowclaw's gaze kept tearing from the she-cat and at something at her side that was obscured from me. "You know the penalty for returning to the forest after all you've done…" he meowed, flicking his tail.

Again his gaze strayed, and my ear twitched; what was he staring at?

More words were exchanged, but they were lost among the anxious murmurs of the gathered cats. Pushing my way through was useless; sometimes I cursed myself for being so small and lean. I hadn't heard what Huntress said next, but it must have been something crucial to her visit because Sparrowclaw's pelt fluffed to twice its size, and Dusktail's jaw hung agape, eyes stretched wide with shock.

Sootstar himself stood rigidly, his features hard like stone. I couldn't tell what he had been thinking, but I guess it hadn't been good.

The rogue then turned to face Sparrowclaw, her eyes narrowed. "Don't bother asking if he's yours, because you already _know_ that he is."

Another burst of anxious murmurs broke then, and my vantage point was lost among the milling of surprised cats. At this time I was able to slip through a few of them, reaching the center of the clearing to see that standing beside the she-cat was a young, pale tom with a shaggy gray pelt. He looked considerably younger than me, but I could see that beneath his pelt were burly, rippling muscles and a wide, broad body frame like Sparrowclaw's. He even shared the intensity of the tabby warrior's deep amber stare, a trait that both Dusktail and Sootstar bore as well.

There was no doubt that this tom was Sparrowclaw's son.

The golden she-cat leveled her gaze with Sootstar next, but the dark gray tabby met her hard green stare unflinching. "You must be a mousebrain if you think you've earned a place in our Clan because my son bore your kin."

"And you'd be a bigger one to turn him away for wrongs that weren't his own doing," she growled back.

Dusktail, the gray-flecked warrior, stepped forward next. "And are we supposed to trust you after what you've done in the Revolt?"

Huntress' ears flattened. "They trust _you_, don't they?" Her gaze swept over the cats in the clearing, lingering on me before flicking her tail in my direction. "Does _he_ trust you?"

Sootstar's stoic façade had broken for the briefest of seconds as he spared a questioning glance my way, and to the gray warrior. Sparrowclaw himself winced, his dark brown tabby pelt standing on end.

Huntress then found my mother, Ravenwing, among the crowd. She let a sly smirk play on her lips as her tail flicked in the direction of the black she-cat. "And your new mate. Has she forgiven you as well?"

I was surprised when Dusktail's claws came unsheathed. "You leave them out of this!" he snapped.

"Leave them out of what?" Sootstar's brow furrowed, his voice spiked with an uncharacteristic edge that I've never seen him use on either of his sons before. It made my hackles rise, but as usual I kept shut.

Sparrowclaw was the first to speak up. "You're not welcome in DawnClan, Huntress." There was a flash of something in the thick tabby's eyes, but it was quickly snuffed and replaced with an intense malice, his lip curled to expose his tiger-sharp fangs. "Get out before we shred you and your kit to mousedust."

The young gray tom's ears flattened, and I cringed. I knew that Huntress was the absolute worst cat a tom could choose for a mate, but surely his son couldn't share in her sadism. After all, he was Sparrowclaw's son, and Sparrowclaw wasn't a killer. He couldn't be.

"You hate me because my mother's a rogue," the tom mewed, his eyes glittered with the same malice reflected in Sparrowclaw's eyes. "Glad to know where my father's honor lies."

Again, Sootstar's expression was unreadable, his muscles taut as if he expected an ambush from the two rogue cats. Then, alternating glances between Huntress and her son, he meowed, "You aren't welcome here, Huntress—you will leave now, and if any of my cats spot you on our territory, you _will_ pay the price." His unsheathed claws were dug into the ground like he was trying to maintain a steady composure, his head still held high as he spoke. "But your son is not responsible for the havoc you have caused here. He will be allowed to stay in camp, but he will not be regarded as one of us until he proves himself to DawnClan."

Huntress dipped her head. "Fine. But touch a hair on his pelt and I'll tear your throat out." Then, as she turned to disappear through the fern tunnel that lead to the outside of our camp, she shot a devious glance over her shoulder and uttered a single word that made my breath catch a second time. "Again."

Again?_ She'd… she'd killed our leader?_

I was about to query further when the gray tom glanced up at Sootstar, his deep amber eyes still glittering. "My name is Stone."

The massive gray tabby's ear twitched, like he hadn't been listening to the younger tom in the first place, then shook his head quickly. "Yes… that's right. Stone," he mumbled.

Cats were growing weary, and behind me I could hear them fretting about letting Stone join the Clan. Then, surprisingly, Flamepaw spoke up. "Shouldn't he be apprenticed now?"

I realized then that she sat further down in the crowd, closer up in the front. She sat more coolly than the rest of us, but an awkward flick of her tail as it lay curled over her paws confirmed that she was just as nervous as the rest of us.

Still, it was easy to tell that Sootstar admired her spirit, nodding as he turned to the apprentice. "Stone, to become a full warrior of DawnClan you must first learn our ways. Until then, you will be known as Stonepaw. Your mentor will be your father, Sparrowclaw."—he beckoned the tabby with his tail.—"I hope he will pass all he knows down to you."

Sparrowclaw approached, but the two toms had not touched noses. I didn't know if it had been because no cat here trusted the rogue, or if neither had known that they were supposed to. I remember hearing that Sparrowclaw and Dusktail had been exiled from the Clan before I was born, but Sootstar allowed them to return after some time, so I never worried much. What really bothered me was the intense, fiery gaze that both toms reflected in the other, a look of pure bile, an undisguised hatred for one another.

On one end I didn't blame Sparrowclaw—on some level I didn't trust Stonepaw either, but at the same time I felt pity for the former rogue. He was just like me in a way; we'd both have to live with the mark our kin had left behind.

Then a thought occurred to me that made the fur along my neck rise: If I was doomed to walk in my father's pawsteps, did that mean that Stonepaw would take after Huntress?

Looking around, I could see that no cat in the clearing was calling Stonepaw's new name. Instead, they exchanged apprehensive glances and murmured amongst themselves, watching in dismay as father and son gazed loathingly into each other's eyes. Sootstar watched on pensively, his tail lashing as it had always done when he thought hard. He must have still been dwelling on Huntress' accusations.

And to make matters worse, I could feel Dusktail's gaze scorching my pelt, his eyes clouded with yet another thing I have yet to find out. Specklepaw and Flamepaw both seemed amply disappointed in not having their warrior ceremony tonight, but I was glad they didn't—their ceremony would be one of the most important days of their life, and for it to have followed after what had just transpired wouldn't be as uplifting for any of the Clan.

It wasn't very hard to tell that this would only be the start of more bad things to come, and cold dread made my chest tighten as I realized that my time in DawnClan was almost up.


End file.
